


Peachy Coral

by softgrungeprophet



Series: Peachy [3]
Category: Venom (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday Presents, Boys Kissing, Cute, Established Relationship, Gen, Gender Roles, I guess????, Lipstick & Lip Gloss, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Language, flash thompson is: a dork, it's just meant to be sweet and positive, there's nothing kinky or sexual about this fyi!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-18 19:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17586755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgrungeprophet/pseuds/softgrungeprophet
Summary: Andi gives Flash a surprisingly insightful birthday present.(It's lipstick.)





	1. Andi's present (lipstick)

"It's not a joke, I swear to God I'm not making fun of you—" Andi pressed her hands together in front of her face, eyebrows all crinkled up in worry. Like he might get mad at her, as he pulled the last of the gaudy wrapping paper from his gift. "I promise, I'm not."

Flash bumped her knee, with the paper balled up in his hand. "Hey, it's okay." He turned the tube of lipstick over in his hand, to look at the label on the bottom. A number, a name— _Shy Thing_. Goofy, but somehow charming. "You saw me looking, huh?"

She shrugged. "Yeah." A small laugh. "I know you weren't looking for _me_ , or Eddie, so maybe I... extrapolated."

"Where'd you learn such big words?" Flash grinned at Andi, and tossed the ball of wrapping paper across the room—it bounced off the edge of the garbage can and rolled across the floor. He'd get it later. For now, he popped the cap off of his birthday present and inspected the color. A very feminine pink, not much darker than the natural color of his lips, maybe a little brighter.  

He'd seen it at the store, while Andi looked to replace her eyeliner pencil. He didn't know what possessed him to swipe the test sample across the back of his hand other than—well, that he'd always wanted to and never really worked up the confidence. It wasn't even that he felt ashamed about it anymore, so much as the fact that he just didn't want to deal with any potentially awkward conversations.

He had come to several realizations during and since his time in space... Realizations which he spent a lot of time ignoring, with the intent to deal with them later. But it was no newsflash that he liked to be pretty. Whatever that meant, it didn't matter. He could take it at face value.

But...

"Andi, I don't think I have anything to wear this with."

She frowned. "You can just wear it with whatever. That's what I do."

Fair point. Her outfit right then showed as much—even with plain jeans and a simple shirt, her nearly-black lipstick didn't seem _too_ out of place.

But she also had the eyeliner, and the nail polish, and the piercings, and the purple hair—it all fit together in a way Flash thought might not work so well for him and his old t-shirts and his cargo shorts. His ugly, tasteless dad clothes. Anyway, Andi was in college. He was _thirty_. Thirty-one. Maybe that wasn't _old_ but it felt too old for him to start experimenting with the things he never got to try when he was nineteen.

But he'd spent so much of his life trying to be a certain way... he could finally do what _he_ wanted, now, without anyone telling him what to do.

"You know what? Fuck it." He capped the lipstick and shoved it into his pocket so he could haul himself into his wheelchair, and said, "Show me how to put this shit on."

Andi followed him to the bathroom with a gleeful grin and a pep in her step.

 

...It was a nice color.

Sure, it didn't quite fit with his whole "teacher who just got home from work and hasn't bothered to change out of his polo shirt" aesthetic, but it was understated enough to not be too noticeable, while still being bubbly, and...

"It's cute." Flash made a face. "I mean... striking?"

Andi cocked an eyebrow.

He wrinkled his nose, smiling slightly. "Okay, it's cute. I like it. It makes me feel cute." His smile turned into a dopey grin. "Thanks for spying on me at the store."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, happy birthday, dork." She bumped his shoulder with a fist, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is set in some kind of AU after venom inc., where flash didn't die but anti-venom still got used up.................. so not long after an alternate version of ASM800, where Flash moved back to Philly and he and andi are just... living their normal life, a little surrogate parent-niece/godparent-goddaughter kind of setup. he's a gym teacher again, and she's in college and probably doing some vigilante stuff with mania or smth. (and flash and eddie are maybe dating....)
> 
> I've been meaning to write it for a few days and only just now got around to it.
> 
> you _can_ just read it as "flash likes pretty things and being pretty" but my intent is more than that.
> 
> I'm kind of hesitant to say anything about my own thoughts, cause I feel silly. which i know is dumb but....... it's hard to shake.
> 
>    
> This is probably set a year after when my adjusted version of ASM800 was... which I imagined being in like, September... and then Kitausuret has a hc that Flash's b-day is October 11th.  
>  It's Flash's 31st birthday in this, but he slipped and called himself 30 :P
> 
> oh man the wordcount was so close to 666......


	2. Eddie's present (his presence)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie visits for Flash's birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasn't actually sure if I was gonna originally write this part, but I ended up doing so, so I'm adding it on as a second chapter.
> 
>    
> Not too racy. Contains lots of kissing and the _vaguest_ implication of sex.
> 
> Flash has been growing his hair out, so it's chin-length by now, and Eddie's grown a beard in the past year cause, I like the buzz+beard look.......................... it's probably pretty minimal at this point.

**Literally like two seconds after the end of the previous section** :

As Flash admired himself in the mirror, someone knocked on the front door.

Because of course.

"Shit, that's probably Eddie." Flash backed out of the bathroom, Andi tip-toeing out of his way in an awkward dance as he turned himself around in the hallway—this really wasn't a wheelchair accessible apartment, from a practical standpoint. Maybe _technically_ , but barely. Flash rolled his way to the front entryway, and sure enough, when he opened the door it was Eddie. Big and square and beardy.

"Hey—" Flash got his arm and pulled him down into a hug, giving him a solid pat on the back. "How are you?"

Eddie shrugged as he straightened up and closed the door behind him. "We're fine." His eyes lingered on Flash's face, expression much softer than it had been just a moment ago. "Happy birthday."

"Uh," Flash ducked his head, blushing a little as he wheeled himself back into the living room. "Thanks." He bit his lip—found himself briefly startled by the taste of lipstick on his teeth, and made a face all scrunched up.

Eddie looked at him curiously, but he didn't say anything. Just settled on the couch—ruffled Andi's hair on the way past, eliciting a swat at his arm and a "Hey!"

"Don't fight, you two." Flash joined Eddie on the couch.

Andi pouted, crossing her arms where she sat in the recliner. "He started it."

He laughed and leaned against Eddie. Eddie's arm snaked around his waist, and a tendril curled the rest of the way, looping around his torso in its own unique embrace. He closed his eyes as Andi turned on the TV. Eddie was warm, and the symbiote cool, and together they were both solid and soft. Especially now that Eddie had gained a little bit of weight, smoothing out the hard lines of his muscles into something healthier, hidden under his clothes.

Flash planted a kiss on Eddie's shoulder. The fabric of his shirt rippled slightly, secretly symbiotic, and he smiled.

Eddie shifted, ducking his head to kiss Flash back.

Flash sighed into it.

"Grooooooooossssssssssssssssssssss!" A pillow nearly hit him in the head, launched from Andi's spot on the recliner, and he laughed. Luckily, the symbiote had shot out a tendril to prevent his otherwise inevitable death by cushion, and held it aloft just above Eddie and Flash's heads.

It dangled the pillow closer toward Andi, bobbing like a cobra about to strike.

Andi narrowed her eyes. "Don't you _dare_."

Too late—the symbiote booped her with the pillow, mussing up her hair. She fended it off with barely suppressed laughter, curling in on herself in the chair, as it repeatedly thwapped her (gently) with the cushion. Mania did little to stop the onslaught, only occasionally tossing out a small, lashing tentacle to protect Andi's face.

Flash snickered.

Eddie shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Hey," Flash draped his arm around Eddie's neck. "Don't break anything."

At that, the symbiote dropped the cushion onto Andi, who made a wonderful impression of an angry cat before dissolving into laughter again, hugging the pillow close as the symbiote retreated into Eddie. Mania ran back through her hair, fixing it up into something presentable—she stuck her tongue out. Flash stuck his own tongue right back out at her.

As the dust settled, he leaned into Eddie's side once more, tucking his hair behind his ear.

***

Later (Andi and Mania having left for a lunchtime patrol), with the symbiote curled fondly around Flash's arms and thighs and waist, Eddie and Flash lay in bed together catching their breath. Well, mostly Flash. Eddie never seemed to tire, but Flash was only human, even with the slight changes left from past symbiosis, and he needed to breathe. He pushed his hair out of his face and mumbled, "Happy birthday to me" with a dopey grin.

He stretched his arms out over his head with a soft noise, maybe purposefully arching a little more than necessary just to be a tease before relaxing back into the sheets.

Eddie rolled his eyes, propping himself up on his elbow, and reached out to cup Flash's face. The symbiote joined him, twining a few tendrils over the curve of Flash's temple and eye as Eddie leaned in for a kiss, quick and sweet—one of what must have been a thousand that day. He looked at Flash thoughtfully, for a moment. His hand drifted down Flash's jaw, and he ran his black-slicked thumb along Flash's lower lip.

"It's been a while since I ruined someone's lipstick." He smirked.

Flash felt himself blush, from his ears to his armpits. He'd almost forgotten—he'd touched it up after lunch, without really acknowledging it or thinking about it too hard. Just a thin layer, barely noticeable. But now that he looked at Eddie, he could see a touch of pink on his lips from their kisses, and of course there was that very particular taste when he poked his tongue out. Waxy.

"You? Ruining lipstick? Sure, okay." He raised his eyebrows in disbelief, then grinned. "Me, on the other hand..." He winked.

Eddie snorted. "Alright, playboy."

Flash puckered his lips up, half-joking—of course Eddie leaned in and gave him a peck, anyway. So reliable.

"Disregarding my romantic history, I ruined _your_ lipstick." Eddie rolled onto Flash, gentle but still pushing him down into the mattress slightly, as the symbiote adjusted its coils around Flash's torso. "That's what really matters, here."

Flash hummed, and it turned into a quiet laugh.

In an over-dramatic stage whisper, he said, "I've been debauched! They'll never take me seriously now!" He wrapped his arms around Eddie's shoulders with a grin. "I'll be the talk of the town."

"Uh-huh." Eddie kissed his cheek. "A scandal for the ages." He paused, leaning their foreheads together. "...It suits you."

Flash tilted his head, as best he could laying down. "What, being a scandal?"

Cheeky smile.

Okay, maybe he was being a little evasive.

"No," Eddie frowned slightly. "The lipstick."

Flash pulled him into another kiss, rather than say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flash and andi live in a two-bedroom apartment flash is renting in philly btw. eddie still lives in ny with the symbiote.
> 
> And in case it's not clear, Eddie is the host of the symbiote.


End file.
